Leaders Eat Last
by Simon Sinek · first published 1900
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Leadership book on building trusting, caring team cultures, built on the Marine Corps habit of officers eating last. Readers credit it with explaining the why of leadership; suits new managers and founders.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Why do only a few people get to say “I love my job?” It seems unfair that finding fulfillment at work is like winning a lottery; that only a few lucky ones get to feel valued by their organizations, to feel like they belong. Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. In his travels around the wor
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Everything by Simon Sinek, but most important for me is "Leaders Eat Last" [0]. I haven't read the last one (The Infinite Game), but I've heard it's pretty good as well. Also Extreme Ownership [1] and Dichotomy of Leadership [2] by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. All of these…
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗Leaders Eat Last. A very good book by Simon Sinek but based on an old Marine Corps principal. While other services have 'head of line privileges' - basically the more senior you are the more you can cut in line to get…
on “Ask HN: How was life for a regular dev during the dot com burst?” ↗…worker to a leader. Another key thing to remember you don’t have to have the “label” before you become a leader. If you act like one the label will come on its own. I suggest you read / watch “Great Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek. Was an eye opener for me.
on “Progressing from Tech to Leadership” ↗…tedious lesson to learn. But once you've learnt it, it turns out to also be very rewarding to you personally. Two books that really helped me: - The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (John Maxwell) - Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)
on “Ask HN: How do I become a better team lead for a small, junior dev team?” ↗…thinking and ability to lead. Here are a few I recommend: Anything for Jim Collins, especially Great By Choice Anything Seth Godin, especially Tribes Anything Simon Sinek, especially Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last Anything Charles Duhigg, especially The Power of Habit I trust this is clear and helpful Wish you all the best, and please reach out if you think there more I can help you with
on “Ask HN: I am doing $2M annually as a solopreneur and need your help” ↗- Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek - Creativity Inc., Ed Catmull - Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux - Joy at Work, Dennis W Bakke - Valve Employee Handbook, Valve Software This list is heavily skewed toward self-organization…
on “Ask HN: What books do you wish your manager would read?” ↗You should really check out Simon Senik's new book [Leaders Eat Last](https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1...). It's essentially Marine Corp leadership philosophy distilled fitted to business scenarios.
on “How to be a Manager – A step-by-step guide to leading a team” ↗+1 Extreme Ownership +1 How to make friends and influence people Leaders eat Last by Simon Sinek Books by Adam Grant and his podcast. He is a brilliant organizational behavioral psychologist from Wharton. Even his Thursday advice tweets are great. I highly recommend two of his podcast…
on “Ask HN: Favorite books on how to be a good manager?” ↗Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink -> https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Ownership-U-S-Navy-SEALs-eboo... Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek -> https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/B...
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗why leaders eat last by simon sinek It is a philosophy that relates well to my personality and I found the book super useful. We would give a copy to every new employee to help reenforce that culture. Especially as we grew…
on “Ask HN: Books that helped you in your business” ↗Star with why and leaders eat last, both by Simon Sinek. Good strategy, Bad strategy, by Rumelt is a classic on business strategy. The books from https://www.tablegroup.com/
on “Ask HN: Any book recommendations for higher management positions?” ↗I really enjoyed Leaders Eat Last and Careless People. 2025 brought me to: The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick Leaders Eat Last - Simon Sinek A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms The Time Machine - H.G. Wells What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard…
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗http://softwareleadweekly.com/ - A weekly newsletter, as well as Slack group - great resource. Books: - Leaders Eat Last - Managing Humans - What Got You Here, Won't Get You There - Radical Focus - Leading Snowflakes: The Engineering Manager Handbook - The Manager's Path - The Coaching Habit - Thanks for the Feedback
on “Tips for moving into management [audio]” ↗Leaders Eat Last was one of the best books I read this year. Extreme Ownership was also quite good but Simon really explains the “Why” of leadership that most books are missing. High-Output Management is another classic.
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…bit "spray and pray"-ish, using soundbites we've grown tired of. However, it might be because the article is reprinted from the author's book that covers an entirely different topic altogether. (Why Leaders Eat Last) Incidentally, you can probably get a good summary of the book just by watching this author's talk. It also covers the OP's posted article. http://vimeo.com/79899786
on “How Baby Boomers screwed their kids” ↗